


April With Klance

by AsagaoSylph



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, April Fools' Day, Background Relationships, Breakfast, Cooking, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, Klance Family, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, M/M, One Shot Collection, Recovery, Scared Keith (Voltron), Sick Character, Team as Family, Tired Lance (Voltron), klance, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23491618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagaoSylph/pseuds/AsagaoSylph
Summary: “Buenos días, mi princesita, mi principito,” cheered Lance, laughing with delight as the two of them darted out of their chairs and tackle-hugged him. “¿Cómo estás?”“Bien!” Chorused his little royals, tugging him towards the table with little gleaming eyes and a few too many giggles. “We already fought off the monsters with Tío Keith, and we have tons of marshmallows!”ORA series of one-shots and snippets on how Klance ft. Nadia and Sylvio spend their April.
Relationships: Acxa/Allura (Voltron), Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Bandor & Pidge | Katie Holt, Coran & Lance (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith & Nadia & Sylvio, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Lance & Nadia & Sylvio, Matt Holt & Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 22
Kudos: 39





	1. April 1st: April Fool’s Day

**Author's Note:**

> This will upload daily!
> 
> Also, this is set in my Magnetic in Our Purple timeline, but for those who have not read that (valid, it's looooong)
> 
> *SPOILERS BELOW FOR MAGNETIC IN OUR PURPLE*
> 
> Nadia and Sylvio were raised by Lance, which is why they're living with him and Keith, Lotor is good and survived, and Klance became co-pilots and the first two Black Paladins.

Keith bit back his giggles as he hushed Sylvio and Nadia. Lance would be done with his shower any minute now, and nothing could look the least bit amiss. That was, aside from the obviously missing vase in the center of the table. Sylvio gulped down the last of his milk, and Nadia bounced in her seat as Keith poured the twins each a cup of hot chocolate. They had gotten a fresh bag of tiny marshmallows the other day, and Keith twisted to wink at the twins.

“Okay you two, you know the drill,” he said, grinning. “Don’t peek, or the marshmallows will all be eaten up!”

Nadia cheered and slammed her eyes closed, her little fingers wrapping in fists and every muscle in her body tensing as if she was trying to lift a mountain. Sylvio squeezed his eyes closed and began singing loudly.

“ _Scary demons, scary ghosts, go away,  
So that the marshmallows can come our way!  
Scary aliens, scary vampires, go away,  
Leave the marshmallows to come our way!  
Scary werewolves and creepers and spiders,  
Cower before our wonders,  
For we are the marshmallow protectors!_”

Keith stashed the marshmallows back on the top shelf behind the rice maker, and set the cup down in front of Nadia with a cheer that just barely covered his desire to simultaneously coo and laugh. According to Lance, Sylvio and Nadia did not have a single sweet tooth; every one of their teeth was made of pure sugar and they were trying to transform their entire bodies into powdery sweetness. So the marshmallows were to be hidden, because in the one day his mom forgot to, the entire bag was destroyed. Lance had told Nadia and Sylvio that all types of monsters were attracted to the sugar, so they had to fight off all of them with their pretty singing before the marshmallows could make it to their drinks. And they had to reaaaaaaaally concentrate, so they had to close their eyes and imagine defeating the monsters. This was also why they usually got orange juice in the morning and not hot chocolate, but Lance liked to celebrate them making it halfway through the week with a sweet reward on Wednesday mornings.

Speaking of which…

“Buenos días, mi princesita, mi principito,” cheered Lance, laughing with delight as the two of them darted out of their chairs and tackle-hugged him. “¿Cómo estás?”

“Bien!” Chorused his little royals, tugging him towards the table with little gleaming eyes and a few too many giggles. “We already fought off the monsters with Tío Keith, and we have tons of marshmallows!”

Lance laughed, ruffling their hair and sweeping them into his arms to cover their cheeks in kisses.

“Way to go, my little marshmallow protectors!” He cooed, settling them in their chairs before trapping Keith in a bear hug and pressing a big kiss to his cheek. “And way to go, my big marshmallow warrior,” he whispered. “Good morning, mi amor.”

“Good morning, Lance,” returned Keith, pressing a petal kiss to his nose. “How are you doing?”

“Great! How about you, beautiful?”

“Pretty good. Breakfast looks delicious, thanks as always,” whispered Keith as he kissed his boyfriend’s cheek. “Sit down, I’ll get your coffee made.”

“Thanks, you’re the best!” Chirped Lance, plopping down next to Nadia and messing with her hair as his free hand reached across the table and booped Sylvio’s nose.

Huh, that was weird. Usually he needed to weave around the vase in the center of the table and usually nearly knocked it over anyway, but today…

“Hey, Keith, where’d the vase go?” He called, winking at a giggling Sylvio and Nadia. “You didn’t wash it, did you?”

“Oh, right, forgot to mention,” called Keith as he rummaged through a cupboard. “I guess a thief snuck in last night and took it. He took Pidge’s too; her mom’s furious. I thought we’d go to the store today and replace it.”

Lance blinked long and slow.

“So a…a vase thief?” He managed. “Like, he didn’t take anything else?”

“Nope, already checked. Not sure how he got in either,” added Keith, biting his lip as Sylvio nearly squealed with laughter. “Good thing it wasn’t our nice one.”

Lance raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, no kidding. Also, my man, there’s something on your chair.”

Keith glanced over as the twins began giggling uncontrollably. A single rose sat on his chair, and his heart skipped a beat as he picked it up slowly.

“Awww, Lance. You got me a rose?”

“Yep,” replied Lance, grinning. “Figured we may as well celebrate every day we’ve got.”

Keith tucked it behind his ear in response and beamed, returning to the cupboard. Lance high-fived Sylvio under the table, glancing at the spread in front of them. He had made omelettes, bacon, and toast with raspberry compote for everyone, so he was pretty sure they should start eating before the eggs got cold—

“Uh, Keith? Isn’t that my coffee?” He asked, pointing to a mug steaming directly in front of him.

Keith grinned, spinning and flourishing the bouquet of fresh roses he had put in the vase yesterday in preparation.

“Why yes it is,” he replied, handing the red and blue roses to Lance along with a kiss. “April Fool’s, my love.”

Lance spluttered, the flowers nearly slipping out of his fingers as his face flushed hot under Keith’s touch.

“You—you—you—!”

Nadia and Sylvio cheered, high-fiving as Lance continued to stammer like a broken record, and Black let out a cosmic chuckle in their paladins’ heads. Keith giggled, pulling back to grab the vase out of the cupboard when Lance’s fingers latched around his wrist.

“I—I said I gave you a rose, remember?”

“Uh, yes?”

“April Fool’s,” replied Lance, pulling the rose from behind Keith’s ear and rolling it between his fingers.

By the time it had rolled down his finger, it had blossomed into a bouquet of purple roses, an Altean gem clinking to the kitchen floor. Lance flashed Keith his best roguish smile as he pulled a single rose from the bundle and tucked it behind his ear again. “As if I would only give you one flower; you underestimate me, Keith. I love you, mi amor.”

Keith went strawberry-red, choking on his words, and Nadia jumped on her seat, cheering at the top of her lungs. Sylvio crowed with laughter, clutching his stomach and nearly toppling out of his chair. Lance beamed, holding the red and blue bouquet close to his chest and stealing a soft kiss from Keith’s lips.

“Here’s to many more pranks, love. Now, shall we get the vase out of the pantry? Clever hiding spot, but you forget I need to get my meds from there.”

Keith blinked.

“Pantry? But I put it in the cupboard?”

Lance stared. Nadia slurped her hot chocolate, glancing at her brother, and Sylvio crunched on his toast as he pointedly ignored his sister’s gaze. Keith glanced in the pantry and twisted to raise an eyebrow at Lance before opening the cupboard.

Nothing there.

“Uh, Sylvio? Nadia? Any idea where the vase went?” Asked Lance, glancing at the two with a gentle tilt of his head.

“Nope, no clue, not the slightest idea.”

“Uh, yeah, no idea, we should get our backpacks together!” Squeaked Nadia, practically sprinting from the room after her brother.

Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance; his boyfriend just cackled and shrugged as if he was a maniacal villain who already knew what Keith was going to say.

“Think they actually broke it or are just playing an April Fool’s Day prank on us?”

“Uh, I would not bet money on either side of that, my man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> Buenos días, mi princesita, mi principito = Good morning, my little princess, my little prince.  
> Mi amor = My love.
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	2. April 2nd: Paperwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blanket slid over Lance’s shoulders, and he turned right into Keith’s kiss.
> 
> “Late night?” Asked Keith softly, tilting his head and slipping over to fill the electric kettle with water.
> 
> “Yeah, kind of got hammered by all my jobs at once,” replied Lance, cracking his shoulder and massaging his neck. “How about you? I thought you went up a varga ago.”

Lance flopped back against his chair with a groan, rubbing his palms into his eyes. His computer glared bright white at him, and his back ached from sitting in the same position (well, in the same chair; no way he was ever sitting still) for well over five hours now. First he had needed to look over reports from Pidge and Hunk on their progress with a new type of barrier that the Olkari were thinking of installing, and then he needed to translate those into Altean to send to Allura. For all that her translator made reading English easy, the minute details were more easily to explain to others if it was in her native tongue. That had been fine; he loved translating, and it barely took half an hour even with the paladins’ technojargon. Then he had fifteen reports from his recent diplomatic expeditions to look over; and yes, most were positive, but every single one of them required a lengthy reply along with a status report to Allura. Plus, two of them were less than receptive to his suggestions, so he had to plan a second trip out there as soon as the phoe—month was over. He had called Coran to see if he could head up any sooner, but the advisor strenuously reminded Lance that he _needed_ to take some time off so his body could recover from the last expedition. Altean healing pods were capable of fixing almost everything, but they could only do so much when it came to recovering from nearly being crushed alive. Lance just chuckled weakly. Ahhhhh, good times.

After that, Coran had checked in on whether he had Keith could volunteer for a birthday party he was hosting for one of the orphans, and then he had needed to translate an old recipe Hunk found from a strange language Lance had never seen before into English. Finding the right dictionary for that had taken an hour all by itself. And then, just to top it off, he had to review reports from Shiro on how cadets would be teamed up at the Garrison this year, which had easily taken two hours; this was the biggest class since the war had ended, and the two paladins had ended up having to call and hash it out together because they kept getting cadets mixed up. Lance swore, if he saw one more Aidan on that godforsaken list—

A blanket slid over Lance’s shoulders, and he turned right into Keith’s kiss.

“Late night?” Asked Keith softly, tilting his head and slipping over to fill the electric kettle with water.

“Yeah, kind of got hammered by all my jobs at once,” replied Lance, cracking his shoulder and massaging his neck. “How about you? I thought you went up a varga ago.”

“I tried to, believe me,” grumbled Keith, setting the water to boil and joining Lance at the table. “But the moment I closed my eyes, Adam emailed me about a new flight he was scheduling for me in early June. He was trying to figure out my team, and by the time I finished putting in my requests, I had seventeen new quiznaking emails. Did you see Coran’s request about the birthday party for Jairuel?”

“Yep, already talked to him,” promised Lance, cracking his knuckles. “You saw my request to drown all my reports in coffee and tears?”

Keith chuckled, catching one of Lance’s hands and massaging the top of it with his thumb.

“Still can’t believe you actually sent me an email for that.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes,” replied Lance, flicking a finger gun at Keith and then snapping his eyes back to his screen. “You have much work left to finish up?”

“Nope, just finished,” replied Keith, pressing a kiss to the back of Lance’s hand and standing as the kettle went off. “I was just coming down here for some chamomile tea. How about you? You want anything?”

“Nah, I have three more reports to draw up. There was a breach on intergalactic space routes off the Balmera, so I need to write a statement on that. Plus, Krolia has two new Blade recruits and she wants a manual on the Coalition, Earth, the Paladins, and the war. And—”

“And is any of this due tomorrow?”

Lance blinked, looking up Keith like he was some sort of hazy figure on the other side of the galaxy.

“Yesssssss?”

Keith cocked an eyebrow.

“Uhhhhhhh, technically speaking—”

“Got it, I’ll make you a cup of this tea; you want some of those cookies with chocolate on top?”

“But I’m not done!” Protested Lance, curling the blanket between his fingers and snuggling further into it. “I still have a ton to get done! And it would probably be really helpful if Krolia got that tonight so she could copy it for the other recruit! Plus, Allura’s got so much going on, she doesn’t need any delays on that report—”

“And she really doesn’t need her brother running himself into the ground and getting another fever,” shot back Keith, digging through the pantry and pulling out those cookies he knew Lance adored above all else. “Because then you know she’d drop everything and come over here to make sure you were okay, right? And then she’d have to spend half an hour formulating a lecture for you on hypocrisy and self-care like last time. I have heard far too many versions of that earful you got last time, I’d rather not listen to another.”

Lance threw up his arms before scrambling to catch the blanket and whining at the sudden cold.

“My boyfriend and sister are conspiring against meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

Keith chuckled at Lance’s dramatics, winding the string of a tea bag around the handle of a cup and pouring boiling water into it. Lance drew the blanket tighter around himself and ran a hand down his face. He knew it was three in the morning and all that, but he had promised to get these done as soon as he could. He could still work, so he should still be—

“What if I was still working right now and was insisting on doing stuff that wasn’t absolutely necessary?” Asked Keith, turning and raising an eyebrow slowly, as if he could hear Lance’s thoughts.

“Then your time is better spent sleeping so you can do a better job on it tomorrow,” retorted Lance immediately.

Keith stared at him pointedly. Lance opened his mouth, raised a finger, and felt Black bonk him on the head through their astral link.

“ _Stop being stubborn,_ ” scolded Black. “ _You know your mate is right, now go to sleep before I have to listen to you loopily singing Gasolina off-pitch in your head one more time._ ”

Keith guffawed and Lance flushed red as Black retreated with a rumbling chuckle.

“Fiiiiiiiiiine, if everyone’s going to gang up on me,” relented Lance, pouting at the computer in front of him, “I’ll do these tomorrow.”

“Good,” praised Keith, dotting his cheeks with kisses. “You can do it while the kids are at school, but don’t forget about our video game tournament.”

“As if I’d ever forget about video game Friday,” retorted Lance with a grin, returning his boyfriend’s kisses and pressing an extra one to his forehead. “……Sorry about this.”

Keith smiled, rubbing a thumb over Lance’s cheek and nuzzling his forehead.

“No worries. If we weren’t all workaholics, I’m pretty sure we never would have been selected as paladins. And we sure as heck wouldn’t have saved the universe.”

“Workaholics unite!” Joked Lance, nuzzling Keith in return and kissing his Galra mark. “Seriously, though. Thank you.”

“You’d do the same for me, Lance. You already have,” said Keith, grinning as he stole a kiss from Lance’s lips and strolled over to the counter to remove the tea bags as if Lance wasn’t cherry-red behind him. “We’re a team, Lance. We always have been.”

Lance smiled, accepting the offered cup and setting it on the table so he could trap his boyfriend in the blanket with him. He snuggled into the crook of Keith’s neck and sighed.

“Yeah. We _are_ a good team.”

“I’ll be sure to forget you said that,” deadpanned Keith, sipping on his tea.

“And I’ll be sure to forget I knew you for five years,” deadpanned Lance, sipping on his tea.

The two sat there for a long moment before bursting into laughter.

“God, we were such messes,” choked Keith, barely managing to keep the tea from going down the wrong pipe.

“No kidding,” snorted out Lance, playing with the hair curling over at the nape of Keith’s neck with a soft, content sigh. “But god do I love how far we’ve come.”

Keith wrapped his arm a little more tightly around Lance and leaned his cheek atop Lance’s head as if that would keep his face from splitting apart from the force of his smile.

“Me too, darlin’.”

……………Lance _melted_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	3. April 3rd: Video Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who said it wasn’t fun to watch someone play video games had clearly never sat on the couch with the love of their life tucked against them and their kids bashing each other in a Mario Kart tournament the adults had already flubbed out of.

Anyone who said it wasn’t fun to watch someone play video games had clearly never sat on the couch with the love of their life tucked against them and their kids bashing each other in a Mario Kart tournament the adults had already flubbed out of. Lance laughed softly, kissing Keith’s forehead and stealing the hot chocolate from his boyfriend’s loosening fingers. He set it on the bedside table with a soft clink as Nadia shoved Sylvio off the track and sped into first place for the round. Nadia pumped her fist into the air with a soft cheer and Sylvio groaned, flopping dramatically onto his back.

Lance winked at his son, running his fingers through Keith’s hair and relishing in his boyfriend melting under his touch. Nadia flopped down beside Sylvio and beamed at him, dimples glowing in her cheeks.

“Ready for the tiebreaker?” She asked, eyes catching the low light of the tv screen and sparkling like the night sky. “You pick the course!”

Keith hummed against Lance’s neck, swinging his legs from the floor to laying over Lance’s lap and burying his face further into his boyfriend. Lance giggled, pressing a soft kiss to the side of Keith’s head and leaning back into the cushions.

“You doing okay there, space ranger?” He murmured just quietly enough that the kids missed it, the starting whistle going off on their last race of the night.

“Mm-hmm,” grunted Keith, nuzzling impossibly further in. “Comfy.”

Keith found Lance’s hand, intertwining their fingers and blowing out a slow, long breath. “Comfier than I ever thought I’d be,” he admitted, and Lance leaned them further back to listen better. “I mean…it hasn’t even been a year. And yeah, I know we all still have our own issues and stuff to deal with, but also……we’re all getting so much better. Pidge managed to spend the entire day at the beach yesterday, and Hunk actually called Shiro yesterday to help him through a panic attack. Shiro’s been having fewer nightmares, and Allura’s stopped falling asleep on her desk. We’re doing a lot better, Lance. And that’s…that’s amazing.”

Keith glanced at the screen, a slow smile spreading over his face as Sylvio nailed Nadia with a blue shell, leading to a flurry of squawking that almost replaced the two little kids with a memory of Pidge introducing Allura to her favorite Mario Kart weapon. But Sylvio’s curls bobbed to the side, and Nadia rammed another car off the track, and the two laughed together with that edge that left Keith instinctively smirking even as Lance’s fingers carded softly through his hair.

“I didn’t actually think we’d ever make it here for a while,” admitted Keith. “I mean, I was with the Blades. I never knew if I’d survive the next mission, if I’d ever see you guys again.”

Lance’s arms tightened around Keith, a pang passing through their bond as too many memories swarmed them at once. They were the former Red Paladins for a reason, and neither were known for any affinity for avoiding the cryopods (though Keith maintained that Lance was worse than him in that department; he wasn’t the one whose anatomy had been casually memorized by the pods because he was in there _that many times_ ). The number of times they had dove headfirst into a situation never knowing if they were going to make it back alive, never knowing if this was their last hurrah and their last goodbye…it was something that would forever hang over their relationship like an axe threatening to destroy the perfect world they had given up everything to save. And Lance knew it hung heavily over Keith.

“Heck yeah!” Cheered Nadia, skidding along the track and snagging a bomb as she came up behind Sylvio.”

“Ack! No no no no! Get away!” Squealed Sylvio as his sister cackled behind him, the two of them lapping the track for the fourth time, neck-and-neck.

_They take after us_ , whispered a voice so unbearably soft in Lance’s mind that it was almost unrecognizable as his own.

“Hey, cariño, shhhhh,” murmured Lance, threading his fingers through Keith’s hair and pressing petal kisses over his face. “You did make it back to us. You made it back every time. Every single time. And you still do, every day, when you come home from work. And this comfort? These little gremlins of perfection, these cushions that have nothing on the softness of the lounge couch, that steaming cup of hot chocolate when you’re ready for it, these arms around you, they’re all your reality. When you wake up, they’ll still be here for you. We’re always going to be here for you.”

Keith hummed, Nadia blew Sylvio off the track before swerving over the finish line with a cheer, and Lance leaned his cheek atop Keith’s forehead. “You can always come home to this.”

“Papi! Papi!” Shrieked Nadia, leaping onto the couch and nestling herself easily under Lance’s arm, her head burrowed into Keith’s side and nose scrunching as she fought back a yawn. “I won! I won! Can we go out for ice cream tomorrow? Can that be my prize? Pleeeaaasseeeee?”

Lance giggled, and Sylvio leapt up onto the couch beside his sister, burying himself under Keith’s arm and nuzzling into Lance’s side.

“Mmmmm, I like the sound of that,” he murmured. “Nadi should win more often if we get ice cream with that.”

Lance snuggled the kids, a lump constricting his throat as their warmth sank into him like the sun after quinta—days of watching for the clouds to clear. They had this now. He had his little royals back, he had the love of his life safe in his lap, they had Kosmo napping in the other room, and they had tomorrow almost guaranteed in a way that still took his breath away. Uncertainty, fear, confusion, surety in the unsure, those were what Lance was used to.

But right here, right now, he had a second chance. They all did. And if there was one thing they had learned in space, it was that every second they breathed had been a tick earned by vargas of training, and should be spent preciously. And right now, the most precious way he could possibly spend this was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, right here beside his loved ones. The ones he had protected, who had protected him, and who stood hand-in-hand facing the future together with him.

Lance slipped one of the controllers to Keith, a twinkle catching in his eyes off the screen and sucking Keith’s breath away as he remembered the first time he had ever seen Lance’s eyes light up like that.

“Come on, samurai,” teased Lance, running a hand through Keith’s hair and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “We can’t just let the kids show us up like this! Let’s demonstrate to them the power of the Mario Kart veterans!”

Keith giggled, nuzzling into Lance as he sat up and selected Daisy with a crooked edge to his grin.

“You mean the veterans of getting demolished by Pidge?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no comment. Go!”

“You little—!”

But when Lance tore ahead with a whooping laugh, his hair tousled and blue eyes shining like this moment, right here, right now, was his entire world, Keith couldn’t find it in himself to be mad. When could he ever begrudge that sunshine smile anything?

Lance was awoken by a sharp beeping from his communicator, Nadia and Sylvio sprawled across his chest drooling, and Keith rocketing up from the couch to smack at his own communicator until it shut up. Lance fumbled around his kids, finding the tiny device at his hip and flicking the _received_ switch he had gotten far too good at recognizing just by touch. He twisted, eyes zeroing in on Keith despite the darkness, and his boyfriend’s eyes combed the room in a slow search for his.

“There’s an uprising against Lotor,” hissed Keith. “He thinks Voltron can stomp it completely out if we hurry; he’s holding them off with Ezor and Zethrid to buy us about a varga, so we need to jet.”

Lance slid out from underneath his kids, wrapping them in a blanket and lifting Nadia into his arms. Keith was beside him in a tick, taking Sylvio up in his own and biting his lip as they nudged their way into the twins’ bedroom. Lance tucked Nadia carefully under the blanket as Keith fluffed Sylvio’s pillow, sliding stuffed animals under each of their arms, and pressing a kiss to the foreheads unwrinkled by any fears. Good. Because Lance and Keith would gladly tear apart the universe to keep it that way.

Keith slipped over to Lance’s side, intertwining their fingers and turning to lock their gazes with a silent, wide-eyed look that sent a throb through Lance’s heart.

“Hey,” he murmured, squeezing their hands. “It’s okay. We’ll be home before dawn.”

Keith swallowed, returning the squeeze and looking at the two children like they were his entire world. Lance followed his gaze, throat tighter than any Galran warden’s grip, and rested his forehead against Keith’s shoulder as his boyfriend licked his eternally dry lips.

“Okay,” whispered Keith.

Lance smiled.

“Okay?”

“Okay. I…I’ll be sure we come back. Both of us, together,” swore Keith. “We’ll come home, just like we always do.”

Lance smiled, letting loose a sigh and straightening his spine as the two paladins snuck from their children’s bedroom. They wouldn’t leave a note, they never did; they’d be back before the twins woke up. They wouldn’t say any goodbyes.

“Sounds good, partner.”

Keith turned in the doorway, Lance’s hand still ensconced in his, and the two looked at their sleeping babies. They raised their chins, and Lance grabbed the handle.

“See you tomorrow.”

The door clicked shut behind the paladins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	4. April 4th: Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the _only_ day Lance could convince Keith to sleep in and relish the extra cuddles, so of course the sun just had to nudge his curtains aside and blind him. Lance wondered if there were sun aliens he could have a word with.

Lance scowled at the morning light sneaking through the curtains, Keith’s alarm clock smugly glowing a red six thirty at him from the bedside table as the sun burned away the last of the sleep from his eyes. Not fair, it was Saturday! It was the _only_ day Lance could convince Keith to sleep in and relish the extra cuddles, so of course the sun just had to nudge his curtains aside and blind him. Lance wondered if there were sun aliens he could have a word with. Also his nose itched. And the skin on his knees was crawling. Well the skin on his everything was crawling, but his knees were the most annoying honestly, and his shoulders were probably going to leap out of his body and start salsa dancing if he didn’t _move now_ —

Lance inched his arm off of Keith’s side, sliding his legs over the side of the bed and blowing his boyfriend a kiss as he tiptoed over to the curtains. Of all the things he had expected his deca—his year of sniping training in space to help him save, his boyfriend’s sleep had never really made it on that list. Lance bit back a giggle, sliding the fabric to cover that extra inch of light that had so rudely destroyed his chance for morning cuddles. It was only a matter of time before that bugger had creeped down and forced Keith to wake up.

There were few things grumpier than his kitty boyfriend after being woken up by the sun.

Lance toed on his Black Lion slippers and yanked on his matching robe before sneaking out of the room. He nudged against his bond with Black, scratching the half-awake Lion behind their ears, and giving them a much-deserved belly rub. Getting tossed into an active volcano and having to fight off a battalion of rebels against Lotor when they were all supposed to be enjoying a night out in the desert had been…well, it had happened. Coran was not going to like that Lance had broken his vow of rest either.

“Buenos días, hermosa,” murmured Lance, his voice lilting in that exact pitch his Lion loved to wake up to. “How are you feeling today?”

“ _Don’t want to_ ,” deadpanned Black, and Lance snickered, hopping onto the banister and casting a final glance back at his boyfriend’s door before sliding down the stairs.

“Okay, go back to sleep then, mi amor. Be sure to snuggle Keith in his dreams!”

Black grumbled an acknowledgement, though they trapped his hand under their chin for a good five dobashes for extra scritches before releasing him.

Lance laughed softly, glancing at Nadia and Sylvio’s locked door and dropping two of the kitchen’s sunflowers outside of it. He tiptoed into the kitchen, his chest swelling and arms stretching high over his head, rolling his shoulders back in circles, and cracking his neck from side to side. He reached behind him, interlacing his fingers and relishing in the _POP_ of his wrists when he rolled them back up front. Sure, he couldn’t do his usual jog and then exercise routine with Keith, but he could still give his family one of _his_ special mornings. All of the Paladins were infamous at this point for being awake before the crack of dawn, and they would normally work out together at the local gym (it had special hours for them; being the saviors of the universe did have its perks). After that, they would all do their own things, but they still knew exactly where everyone was supposed to be before society woke up. Some habits die hard.

Shiro would always walk his dogs and pick up a bouquet of flowers for Adam on the way back. At first, he had tried making breakfast for the newlyweds, but after the rest of the paladins had been forced to rush over and put out the fire, he had sworn off kitchen work. Meanwhile, Pidge would go out to breakfast with Bandor at a diner which gave discounts for early-morning risers, and the two would hide in their lab with Matt and Nyma for the rest of the morning. Hunk would go back to his house where Shay was often awake by then, and the two would cook up a gourmet feast before hitting their mechanic shop for some morning calibration. Allura would go straight to her office in the Castle of Lions and begin handling Voltron Coalition paperwork where Acxa would already have a cup of coffee and a healthy breakfast ready for her. Coran headed to the Castle of Lions Orphanage and began working on refugee settlement, taking care of the little ones, and sorting through paperwork to see if anyone had claimed the missing children. Keith and Lance would jog back to their apartment, and Lance would make breakfast while Keith showered. Then Lance would shower while Keith handled drinks and morning emails; when he came down, Nadia and Sylvio were usually awake, and they would all munch through their meal together and plan the day. As such, early morning surprises were almost always out of the question for the paladins.

But some days, Lance got lucky. After all, what sort of boyfriend was he if he didn’t spoil Keith every now and then?

Lance pulled out a mixing bowl along with eggs, milk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla. He had an old waffle recipe his mom made for him all the time growing up, but it always took a little too long to make during the weekdays. Plus, he had finally convinced her to buy him a heart waffle iron like the ones she always used.

Lance broke the shell on the edge of the bowl, letting the egg drop into the bowl before dumping in measured portions of the other ingredients and beating them in. He giggled as he blew a kiss into the bowl; it was the secret step his mom insisted that every cook forgot to write down. Lance flicked on the radio, grinning as the quiet beats he had woken up to every morning echoed through the kitchen, and his foot began tapping along to the song. If it weren’t for the fact that Keith seemed to have a sensor for Lance singing and would bound out of bed, he would join in. Still, he could hum with impunity.

Lance tossed together the dry ingredients and dug a well in them before pouring the wet excuse for batter in and whisking the stream into the dusty mixture in the bowl. He wondered if Keith would want blueberries or chocolate chips, a smirk quirking at the edge of his lips as he remembered an exchange he had with Keith over the phone last week. Keith had called him out of the blue on his way home from work, and Lance had nearly dropped the cookies he had snagged from the staff room for them.

_“Hey, Keith! What’s up—”_

_“Blueberries or chocolate chips?”_

_“…Uh, depends. Is this, like, a muffin?”_

_“Not telling. Blueberries or chocolate chips?”_

_Lance stared at his phone, considering clicking over to FaceTime to account for the staredown the two boys were deeeeefinitely not having several houses away from each other. He stared at the phone, bugging out his eyes dramatically just as he heard Keith began to snicker. They stayed like that, Lance staring protests at his phone while Keith giggled, before Lance finally gave in._

_“Uhhh, chocolate chips?”_

_“Cool, thanks. See you in a few.”_

_“Yep, see you. I love you!”_

_“Love you too,” replied Keith, his voice impossibly soft, as if he was blowing kisses through the phone with just those words; Lance had no clue how he always seemed to do that._

_He_ did _know that he came home to bags of chocolate chips and a bouquet of impossibly big flowers along with a blushing Keith and two sugar-high children screeching as they dashed around the house. Keith muttered that he thought Lance had seemed off when he went to work that morning, so he had run to the store after his flight simulations for the day with Sylvio and Nadia. The only problem was that they couldn’t agree if he wanted blueberries or chocolate chips, and then they had both raided the chocolate the tick they got home, so they had kind of become twin banshees and Lance had knocked him to the floor with a hug, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder as his eyes swam bright-blue._

_“It’s perfect, Keith. Thank you. Now, for everything that’s good and holy, help me catch our little royal menaces.”_

Lance bit back a laugh, tossing in the melted butter and whisking them together. He had loved his chocolate chips, but there were far too many for him to eat all of them straight. Sooooooooooooooooo……

Lance left the batter to sit, yanking the waffle maker from the cupboard and plugging it in. It still needed to heat up, and the batter needed ten minutes to rest and adjust to its new friends (well, that was always what his mom had said), so Lance yanked out a skillet, a pan, two little bags of chocolate chips, and some bread. He may as well make this a breakfast to remember, right?

He covered the pan and skillet in butter, and dumped the chocolate chips next to the batter. The bread went into the toaster, and Lance tossed a kiss after them as well. He hummed softly, pulling out ham and tossing it into the skillet. Even though Keith had possibly one of the sweetest tooths Lance had ever seen, he also insisted on eating food in the morning that would give him enough energy to get through the day. Lance would never forget bringing them home donuts for breakfast, and having to sit there watching Keith bustle around the kitchen, burning toast and setting the bacon on fire in an effort to keep Lance from doing all the breakfast work.

Lance took care of their meals after that, though Keith hovered near him and tried to learn how to not burn down their kitchen.

Lance hummed, sashaying his hips to the radio’s newest song, and grinding a bit too much pepper and salt over them, just like Keith liked. He blew two kisses at them and flipped over the sizzling ham, checking the heat off the waffle iron and leaning against the counter as his fingers tapped in time with the music. He never thought he’d actually make it here.

It had barely been a year since they had made it home, they still hadn’t been back for longer than they had been in space. Lance had never doubted that they’d win, that they’d try and go home again, but he had also never doubted that his family was in danger the whole time. He never doubted that he might lose those he loved, that Earth might be destroyed before he ever made it back, that he was missing out on one-in-a-lifetime experiences with his loved ones. And he never doubted that Keith wasn’t interested in him.

Boy had Lance never been happier to be wrong in his life.

The timer dinged and a quiet murmur nearly sent Lance reeling into his familiar fighting stance.

“Papi?” Mumbled Nadia, rubbing her fist against her eye as if trying to crush the haze of sleep out of her eyes.

“Buenos días, mi princesita,” he greeted her, sweeping the small girl into his arms and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “¿Quieres hacer el desayuno conmigo?”

Nadia yawned and nodded, cuddling against his chest. She promptly dozed off.

Lance chuckled, humming softly along to the song as he sprinkled chocolate chips into the batter. The toast popped, and he tossed the onto a plate one at a time before scooping the ham and eggs atop the toast. He stirred in the chocolate chips and scooped a spoonful into the waffle iron, closing it and readjusting Nadia in his arms.

“Buenos días, Papi,” called Sylvio, sneaking into the room and hugging Lance’s legs from behind. “¿Qué hay para desayunar?”

“Verás~” Trilled Lance softly, bending down to peck Sylvio’s forehead twice. “¿Quieres lavar las frambuesas?”

“Sí,” replied Sylvio, kissing Lance’s cheek and dashing to the fridge to pull out three massive containers of raspberries.

Lance giggled, pulling out the first waffle and setting it on Keith’s plate. He scooped in another waffle, turning up the radio and kissing Nadia’s curls.

“¿Cómo dormiste anoche?” He asked, glancing at Sylvio.

“Dormí bien,” promised Sylvio, dumping the raspberries into a giant bowl and sticking it under the water with a grin. “Soñé que me convertí en un dragón y volé a Altea, ¡y luego me casé con el hijo de la tía Allura!”

Lance laughed, ruffling Sylvio’s hair and hip-checking his son gently.

“Me aseguraré de poner una buena palabra para usted con la tía Allura cuando ella adopta un hijo,” he teased.

Sylvio stuck his tongue out at Lance with a sunshine grin and stole a handful of raspberries. Lance couldn’t even pretend to be upset, so he flipped a waffle onto Sylvio’s plate as if he hadn’t seen the little gremlin’s shenanigans.

And when Keith tripped downstairs with Kosmo on his head and drool still dried on his chin, Lance couldn’t keep himself from cooing, which woke up Nadia, who flailed out of his grip and ran to tackle Kosmo. Keith laughed like he had just been given the best present in the universe, Lance flipped a waffle onto Nadia’s plate, and Sylvio ran to hug Keith and beg for the taller boy to help him drain the raspberries. Lance hummed along to the radio softly, a smile consuming his face as Keith wrapped his arms around Lance’s waist and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Gracias por hacer el desayuno, Lance,” he whispered, giving Lance a quick squeeze before dashing to the sink to keep Sylvio from dumping the raspberries in the sink by accident while Nadia gave Kosmo his breakfast.

The radio sang on. Keith set the bowl of raspberries on the table, Nadia began roughhousing with Kosmo, and Sylvio hugged Lance’s leg as he hopped up and down and squealed that they were having chocolate-chip waffles for breakfast. Lance was still tomato-red and squeaking helplessly, so Keith flipped a waffle onto Lance’s plate, beamed, and kissed his curls.

“Buenos días, mi amor,” whispered Keith.

_Dios, Lance was going to melt, how could he possibly be this blessed?_

“Buenos días, mi amor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¿Quieres hacer el desayuno conmigo? = Would you like to make breakfast with me?  
> ¿Qué hay para desayunar? = What’s for breakfast?  
> Verás~ ¿Quieres lavar las frambuesas? = You’ll see~ You want to wash the raspberries?  
> ¿Cómo dormiste anoche? = How did you sleep last night?  
> Dormí bien. Soñé que me convertí en un dragón y volé a Altea, ¡y luego me casé con el hijo de la tía Allura! = I slept well. I dreamt I became a dragon and flew to Altea, and then I married Aunt Allura's son!  
> Me aseguraré de poner una buena palabra para usted con la tía Allura cuando ella adopta un hijo = I'll make sure to put a good word for you with Aunt Allura when she adopts a child.  
> Gracias por hacer el desayuno, Lance = Thank you for making breakfast, Lance.  
> Please do not hesitate to correct me if these are wrong! I am not fluent in Spanish and am More than happy to make corrections!
> 
> I own nothing! The recipe is heavily inspired by the one linked here: https://www.theworktop.com/breakfast-brunch-recipes/norwegian-waffles-heart-shaped/ 
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	5. April 5th: Injured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tío Keith, nooooooooo!” Whined Nadia, her tiny fingers wrapping around his arm and tugging his bayard away from the counter. “The pizza cutter works just as welllll!”
> 
> “But a sword has a cleaner cut,” insisted Keith, and Nadia’s smooth cheeks puffed up into little red balls of angry fluff.

Keith hummed softly, kneading the soft dough in circles, folding it over itself, and pushing it softly forwards again. He flipped it over, patting the top of the dough and nearly cheering when his fingers came away without any hints of stickiness. He had been taking lessons from Hunk for almost a phoeb, and Nadia was a very faithful guide on the rocky path to making edible rolls, but well…

“Tío Keith, nooooooooo!” Whined Nadia, her tiny fingers wrapping around his arm and tugging his bayard away from the counter. “The pizza cutter works just as welllll!”

“But a sword has a cleaner cut,” insisted Keith, and Nadia’s smooth cheeks puffed up into little red balls of angry fluff.

“No! The counter doesn’t need to be cut cleanly! Or at all!” She complained, latching onto his arm and pouting at him like a little upset bumblebee.

Keith eyed the pizza cutter skeptically.

“It’s not a good blade.”

“It’s not supposed to be!”

“But then how do we cut the dough?”

“………Tío Keith, you know bread gets harder in the oven, right? If we don’t need a bayard to cut the bread, we don’t need one to cut the dough!” Pointed out Nadia, practically dangling off the paladin’s arm. “Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeeee, can we try it the pizza cutter way?”

Keith’s lips twisted, his eyes slitting as he regarded the squishy dough in front of him. It was soft, had he mentioned that? Super soft, crazy soft, so soft it reminded him of Lance’s cheeks after a shower. Well, it wasn’t as soft as that last one (nothing was), but it still reminded him of that! That was something! And using his Altean weapon on something that soft…it made Keith’s stomach clench. The pizza cutter seemed merciful. Plus, Lance had been saying something yesterday about giving the kids enough room to make little mistakes and learn from them?

Keith scrunched his nose; he still didn’t get that one. Why let them touch the radiator with only a warning instead of keeping them from something that would burn them? Lance had just snickered and replied that then they would get burned behind his back instead; he may as well be there to help them afterwards and explain to them that, if they didn’t do that, they wouldn’t get burned.

Keith suggested seeing if there was an Altean gem to create a barrier around the radiator. Lance just face-palmed. Maybe Keith could get used to this idea by letting Nadia make the mistake of using the pizza cutter instead of the bayard?

“Okay,” decided Keith, letting the bayard flick away in a flash of light. “Pizza cutter it is.”

Nadia let out a groan of relief and stretched her tiny arms up to the counter, fingers flailing around for pizza cutter.

“Gracias, Tío Keith!” She chirped. “Here, let’s cut it like a pizza! As long as it’s even, we can shape it however we like afterwards!”

“Kind of like onigiri?”

Keith had helped Mrs. Shirogane make those a few times, and even if he had nothing on her perfect little bundles of joy, he had still been better than Shiro!

“What’s…oni-onijigi?”

“Onigiri,” corrected Keith softly, petting a few stray curls out of Nadia’s face and kissing the top of her head. “It’s like a little triangle of packed rice with a filling. My…my mom made that a lot for Shiro and I at the Garrison because it sat so well.”

Nadia giggled, nuzzling into his touch and humming along to the radio playing softly in the background.

“Probably! I mean, I usually make the rolls round, but no one wrote that down, so it’s not a real rule!” She chirped, grabbing at the counter and elbowing the pizza cutter. “Come on! Papi will be so surprised to come home to this!”

“Okay, but Nadia watc—”

The pizza cutter wobbled off the counter, and every nerve in Keith’s body roared into flames. His arm shot around Nadia’s waist, his feet squeaking against the floorboards as he twisted the two out of the way. His free hand shot out, palm heel striking the utensil and flinging it across the room as he tucked Nadia close to his chest. His eyes raked the room over for any more threats, his stance shifting in case someone was sneaking up behind hi—

“Muchas gracias, Tío Keith!” Cried Nadia, throwing her arms around the paladin’s stomach as she snuggled into his hold. “I’m really sorry I didn’t notice it. Are you okay?”

Every muscle in Keith’s body went taut under her touch, but limp again at her words. He carded his fingers through her hair, pressing a kiss to her nose softly.

“Don’t worry; I’m okay!” He promised.

“Liar!” Yelled Nadia, scampering out of his grasp and dashing over to his still-extended hand. One of his fingers had snagged the edge of the blade, and a single droplet of blood rose up in testament to his battle wounds. Keith eyed it and shrugged.

“Not a big deal,” he insisted. “Come on, let’s get these rolls finished u—”

“ _No_!” Shrieked Nadia, grabbing his wrist with her chubby, baby fingers and dragging him over to the couch. “Rolls in a minute! We need to bandage that and disinfect it!”

“Wha? Nadia, uh, i—”

“The bandages are upstairs, I’ll be right baaaaaaaaaaack!” Called Nadia as she dashed up the stairs two at a time. “Don’t infect it!”

Keith blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Keith had been thrown around the training room for a decaphoeb. He had shattered bones, torn muscles, damaged nerves, and been launched into buildings, volcanos, and acid storms without batting an eye. All of the paladins had. The cryopods were always more than enough to protect them, but there wasn’t a single paladin who didn’t proudly carry at least half a dozen battle scars.

This was…a cut.

But, as Nadia bustled back into the room and snatched a tiny tube of disinfectant from the medicine drawer, crawling into his lap to begin patching up his finger, Keith just stared at this tiny injury. No one would have noticed, not even him, back on the Castle. They had bigger things to worry about than a paper cut. It had barely drawn blood, it hadn’t even reached a two on his pain tolerance scale, and it hadn’t done any lasting damage. Not a big deal.

But, as Nadia brought his finger up to her lips and gave the band-aids a healing kiss, Keith swallowed back the feeling that, to her, this was a big deal. He was a big deal. What he felt was a big deal, no matter how small it seemed to him. Like how dropped ice cream mattered to Keith when it was the twins, or how Lance’s missing face masks mattered to the whole family even when he tried to brush it off.

Maybe his world didn’t have to be ending for other people to care about him.

“There! All finished!” Crowed Nadia, hopping off Keith’s lap and tugging him over to the counter again. “Let’s bake!”

Keith chuckled, ruffling Nadia’s hair with one hand and spinning the pizza cutter between his fingers with the other.

“Yep,” he replied, kissing her forehead gently as the band-aid settled softly over his skin. “Lance will be so proud of you when he gets back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	6. Lullabies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance hummed softly as he tucked a blanket around Sylvio’s shoulders, running his fingers through the thick curls flopped over his son’s forehead. Nadia had passed out a good ten minutes ago, barely needing the first note to make it out of Lance’s lips before she was snoring away in her bed. He chuckled, kissing each of her squishy dumpling cheeks and turning off her lamp.

Lance hummed softly as he tucked a blanket around Sylvio’s shoulders, running his fingers through the thick curls flopped over his son’s forehead. Nadia had passed out a good ten minutes ago, barely needing the first note to make it out of Lance’s lips before she was snoring away in her bed. He chuckled, kissing each of her squishy dumpling cheeks and turning off her lamp. He needed to talk to Pidge and research how to make meals with enough nutrients to sustain his little baby athlete; track and field was doing wonders for her. She had babbled for three vargas during dinner about proper running posture, about lengthening her stride and using her arms during the final sprint since her legs would automatically match the speed, and how she was already in the top five of her group, so she was moving to a higher one and she wanted to join in the long jump too, so could Lance call Tía Pidge and make a sand pit for her in the back tomorrow?

Lance promised only to call Pidge, he never said anything about what he’d tell the little gremlin genius.

The door clicked shut behind him, and Lance let a sigh fall past his lips as he ran his fingers through his hair. Keith had come home from the Garrison that day, swept Nadia and Sylvio into a tight hug, and squeezed Lance’s hand with a slight wince. Lance squeezed back, kissed his boyfriend’s cheek, and shooed him upstairs. Some days were worse than others, he knew that better than anyone. If Keith needed him, there wasn’t a single tick he didn’t have a communication device on him. The two had fought in an intergalactic war, after all, having a cell phone on them didn’t exactly work out in space, so having maybe five modes of communication on them was just barely sufficient. So, uh, yeah, Keith knew he could call him.

Lance trailed over to the kitchen, filling the kettle up with water and tugging two purple cups from the cupboard that were almost large enough to be soup bowls. Keith had dragged him over to them in the store, demanding that they buy the “chubby rhino cups” and, bluntly, if Keith had asked him to buy a doormat that sliced all intruders into ribbons with that glowing smile, Lance would have thrown it in the cart without a second thought. For all that Nadia and Sylvio’s big puppy eyes didn’t work on him, one little pout from Keith got him anything he could possibly ask for.

The day Nadia and Sylvio learned that and started filtering their requests through Keith would be the downfall of the McClain family.

Lance started humming softly, picking up the threads of his lullaby, and dipped two bags of chamomile tea into the cups, his free hand tapping against the counter. A yawn tugged at his lips, and Lance’s eyes darted instinctively to the calendar on the wall. It was loaded down with Sylvio’s upcoming science class, with Nadia’s sports, with McClain family visits, with Keith’s test flights, with Lance’s presentation days, with the kids’ playdates, with official paladin meetings and unofficial family visits, with their future all neatly fit into little boxes. Keith had gotten Lance the calendar when he had been forced to pull an all-nighter preparing for a diplomatic gathering the next day, but both of them had been reduced to fits of giggles at the idea that the future was anything but flexible, that it could be contained and molded and cemented by a few words. The future did whatever it pleased, and what they made of it was up to them.

Lance let the song die on his lips as he pulled the tea bags free of the cups, tossing both in the garbage can without a glance (he _was_ Voltron’s sharpshooter, after all), mouth tight at the corners. He snagged a couple of oranges from the fridge and balanced (clenched) them in his palms as he crept up the stairs. They needed to redo the railing soon; the kids slid down it every morning and it was starting to wobble when he leaned against it. Lance yawned, wide and open, for a solid minute before continuing his trek up.

“I got it,” whispered Keith, slipping the cups from Lance’s vice grip with a widening smirk as Lance gave a silent yelp and nearly pinwheeled his way back downstairs.

“Dude, the ninjaing is distinctly _not_ good for my heart or my skin!” Whined Lance as if his face wasn’t being split by a grin. “How are you doing, Samurai?”

Keith shrugged, sipping at the tea and tangling his fingers with Lance’s as they trodded to the bedroom.

“I’m fine,” he decided. “Just really, really tired.”

“Well then, let LanceyLance put his prince to bed,” replied Lance, kissing Keith’s cheek and tugging him into the dimly lit room, flicking off the light. “I’m all warmed up for lullabies thanks to the kids. Any particular requests?”

Keith giggled, downing his tea as if it hadn’t just been boiling water, and practically diving onto the bed.

“Your pick,” he murmured, dropping his cup onto his bedside table and snuggling under the blankets.

Lance gave a soft laugh, blowing a kiss to his half-asleep boyfriend and stripping off his socks. For some reason, whenever he slept with them on, he would wake up halfway through the night and have to try to take off his socks with his, well, _socked_ feet to not wake up Keith. Whether it worked or not seemed to be reliant on the weather of Uranus.

“Okay then,” he whispered, sliding in next to Keith and wrapping the smaller boy into his arms until he was trapped as the little spoon. “Good night, mi amor. Sleep well, sweet dreams; I love you so much.”

Keith snuggled further into his chest and let out a long, shaky breath before going slack.

“Good night, darlin’. Sweet dreams, I love you.”

Lance pressed a kiss to his little baby nose, and settled in before beginning his whispered song. Keith would be asleep before he was done with the second line, like he was after every day like this, but Lance would sing for at least half an hour anyway. You never knew when his little half-space-kitty boyfriend would wake up again.

“Aruru mi niño, arrurú mi amor,  
Aruru pedazo de mi corazón,” whispered Lance, tucking his boyfriend tighter against himself and kissing the back of Keith’s head; he may not know if his love would wake up soon, but he did know one thing for sure. “Este niño lindo que nació de día,  
Quiere que lo lleven a la dulcería.”

Everytime Keith woke up, Lance wanted to be there with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> Sorry for the late publications, my health took a nosedive (not Covid-19 related) so I wasn't able to write for almost a week. I'm trying to catch up now, so I'll publish 1-2 chapters a day. I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	7. Exercise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Good morning, sleepyhead,” teased Lance, untangling Keith and pressing kisses across his cheeks. “Feel like chasing me to the gym where you can plot your revenge with Pidge yet?”
> 
> Keith glared at him from the puddle of sheets at the foot of the bed, and Lance giggled as he ruffled his boyfriend’s hair. “Seems like it to me! Let’s race on the way there then!”

Keith rolled over, throwing an arm over Lance with a pout as their alarm clock began blaring _I’m Ready_ on their bedside. It was that or waking up to trumpets, and although Keith loved the shot of adrenaline that gave him, it meant he couldn’t cuddle his adorable, sleepy boyfriend back to sleep. Lance had been up later than he would probably admit last night, but Keith had woken up five times to him still singing. The last time he glanced at the clock, it had been 1:30, and always took Lance at least half an hour to fall asleep. They woke up at six every morning.

Lance rolled over and whined, pressing a kiss to Keith’s forehead.

“Come on,” he murmured. “We need to get ready for our jog.”

Keith snuggled determinedly into Lance’s neck, tightening his hold around his boyfriend’s waist as the taller man squirmed. “Keeeeeeeeeeeith,” whined Lance, pouting at him without even opening his eyes. “If we don’t show up at the gym, you know Pidge and Hunk and Shiro _and_ Allura will come breaking down our door!”

“So we call and let them know?”

Lance opened one eye at him, squinting at the lump of tangled black hair burying itself into him as if escaping from the world. Keith never wanted to skip going to the gym; had yesterday been that nasty at work?

“Come on, you’ll be glad we went,” replied Lance, kissing the top of his partner’s head and tickling him with his feet.

Keith squealed, kicking off the covers and nearly kneeing Lance in the stomach. If it weren’t for the fact that they had trained almost exclusively together for phoebs, his next flurry of attacks would have sent Lance sprawling into a cryopod for movements. This was why Lance had prohibited Nadia and Sylvio from any tickle fights with Tío Keith. It wasn’t like Keith was trying to hurt anyone; it was just reflex. All of their tickle fights for over a decaphoeb had been with trained fighters, with people who knew what they were going to do ticks before they did, people who understood and trusted each other’s movements with their lives. That was something they would never have with anyone other than their Voltron family, so there were things they could only do with one another.

Even with that, only Lance could cope with _early-morning-tickle-fights-are-War-Keith_. He was used to his battle-hardened boyfriend’s muscular, trained limbs becoming a frenzied combination of flailing and vaguely swatting at the air as he squealed and rolled himself up in blankets to escape Lance’s onslaught. There was no rhyme or rhythm to his strikes, he was basically just a squirming ball with limbs attached that disliked the occupation of their owner; even Keith didn’t know what he was doing. Lance kind of liked that. He liked knowing that he was the only one who knew Keith better than he knew himself.

Keith flopped off the bed with a shriek, his little blanket cocoon sinking to the ground with a _plump_ that drew a snigger from Lance. He hopped out of the bed, padding over to Keith and chuckling as his boyfriend continued to thrash against the constraints of his blanket.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” teased Lance, untangling Keith and pressing kisses across his cheeks. “Feel like chasing me to the gym where you can plot your revenge with Pidge yet?”

Keith glared at him from the puddle of sheets at the foot of the bed, and Lance giggled as he ruffled his boyfriend’s hair. “Seems like it to me! Let’s race on the way there then!”

“What does the winner get?” Asked Keith, smirking as he recalled an almost identical conversation he had with Lance over a year ago. “We don’t have the special shower anymore.”

Lance grinned, leaning over his boyfriend until his lips grazed Keith’s ear, and Keith held perfectly still. Then Lance dove and blew a raspberry into Keith’s neck, earning him a squeal and a flurry of swats to the shoulder that was well worth the grin decorating Keith’s face now.

“Winner gets to pick where we go out on Thursday!” He decided, kissing Keith’s bunny nose and winking at him. “Remember, Tía Allura’s coming over to babysit our little royals? We can spend some quality time wooing each other.”

As if Keith needed to woo him; all he needed to do was live in this same star system and Lance would be happy. Still, a night out would do them both a world of good. They were getting close to their one-year anniversary of coming back to Earth, and all of the paladins were keeping their eyes on the sky half of the day. Celebrations such as the anniversary of the Battle for Sol tended to be characterized by, well, more battles. Allura had been working with Matt for a couple of quintants now to make sure their outfits for the day were both gorgeous and practical, with plenty of room for weapons of small mass destruction.

Suspense was not great for any of the paladins, so Lance had been making an effort to take each of them out for lunch or a day at the arcade or dance lessons or something fun to remind them that they were still on Earth. They were all safe, and they were together, and they had won. The war was over. They would always happily be Paladins of Voltron, explorers of space whose adventures through the stars continued no matter what, but they were also scientists, engineers, fathers, cooks, boyfriends, daughters, athletes, fiances, volunteers, husbands, craftsmen, actors, and one giant family. They were, and would always be, first and foremost, lovers. What and who they loved may differ, but it was the truest part of them.

“Well then, ready and go!” Cried Keith, throwing the blanket over Lance’s head and racing from the room as his boyfriend squawked behind him.

“ _Keith!_ ” Whined Lance as if he wasn’t laughing, yanking the blanket free and dashing for the closet.

Keith laughed, snatching his workout clothing and making a beeline for the bathroom while Lance gave in to his laughter and bent double as his boyfriend made a face at him before locking the door. If you wanted to bring out Keith’s childish side, challenge him to any sort of competition. Lance had known that one for decaphoebs though.

Plus, for all that Keith raced around the house, he always waited for Lance at the door. Neither of them would ever leave this house without the other. It was their house, after all.

“You two are sickening as always,” groaned Pidge, pushing up her glasses as Keith jogged through the door, Lance a couple of steps behind him. “And next time you’re late because _cuuudddddddddlesssssssss_ , I’m going to hack your phones and make your alarms blare Taylor Swift breakup songs at top volume!”

“If you wake up Nadia and Sylvio,” panted out Lance, raising a finger that might have been threatening if he wasn’t resting his elbows on his knees, and if it hadn’t been directed at someone everyone knew he loved, “I will get Matt to hack Rover II and make the robot give you a makeover! With hair dye and everything!”

“You monster,” teased Hunk, hip-checking his best friend. “Although, Pidge with a purple undercut would be cute.”

“Sure, I’ll try that when you get neon green stripes through your head,” deadpanned Pidge, tossing off her grey hoodie and fist-bumping Keith as she headed over to the weights. “Shiro’s choosing music today, be warned y’all!”

Keith promptly stuffed ear plugs into his ears, ruffled Lance’s hair, and snagged a yoga ball to warm up with. Hunk grinned, shaking his head fondly as Allura’s steady footsteps could be heard above them as she ran laps. She was always the first one there.

“You doing okay, buddy? Don’t push it if you didn’t sleep well,” warned Hunk, eyes flitting over his friend’s paler cheeks. “Nadia and Sylvio’s birthday is coming up soon, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Lance, wiping the sweat off his forehead and cracking his shoulders harshly. “I’m going to give them a party to remember! You’d better come; I can’t have the best caterer in the galaxy flaking out at the last minute!”

“Awww, buddy. And no worries, I wouldn’t miss it even for a date with Shay!” Promised Hunk, patting Lance on the back. “I’m going to test myself today, wish me luck!”

“Wooooooooooooo! You got this, big guy!” Cheered Lance, whistling cheerily and earning himself an eye roll from Pidge. “Knock your records out of the water! Woo!”

Hunk laughed, crushing him in a quick hug before heading over to the floor. Lance grinned, eyes flitting to the clock and arms cracking over his head. He had done mainly strength training yesterday, so he should probably shake that up and do some cardio other than _SLOW DOWN SO I CAN BEAT YOU, KEITH!_ He strolled over to the rowing machine, slotting his feet in and grasping the handle. He could do this for half a varga easily, so it was the perfect warm up. Plus, he was planning on helping Allura test how accurately some of the Castle’s simulations had been installed in the gym later that morning; he needed to be nimble or he’d end up with a sword through the chest.

Lance got as close to having a sword through his chest as he could without dying.

“So that would be a miscalibration,” muttered Allura, running through code with Pidge while Keith continued stabbing through gladiators and Hunk fussed over Lance, who was totally _fine_.

They were paladins, a few swords nearly through the chest were normal.

“Understatement of the year award,” grumbled Pidge, erasing a paragraph of text and starting again. “If we can’t get them to understand _End Simulation_ , we’re kind of screwed.”

“Hunk, could you keep Keith from breaking the gym?”

“Eh, it’s a good workout.”

“Hunk!”

“Hey, it tried to kill you, man! If a few things get broken, well…”

Lance rolled his eyes, patting his fully intact chest and rolling his shoulders. It had been a grazing blow, nothing a cryoscanner couldn’t fix. Coran had been working with Hunk a lot lately to enhance and downsize some of the Altean equipment, and the cryoscanner was a quick way to heal most small injuries. But, since it was still experimental, he was stuck on the sidelines while his boyfriend “worked out” by destroying the gym. Somehow, the owner seemed more concerned about the upgrades than the potential repairs.

Maybe that was just because the intergalactic space queen had promised to cover everything though.

“Uh, Keith, maybe tone down the destruction a litt—”

“EXTERMINATE!”

“Right, maybe tone down the edgelord thing first.”

“ _ **EXTERMINATE!**_ ”

Lance threw his arms over his head, and Hunk just chuckled, tucking Lance into a tight side-hug. Honestly, this sort of workout was more their speed than stationary gym equipment ever was.

“KEITH, IF YOU BREAK MY DANCING POLE, I WILL HIDE ALL YOUR FINGERLESS GLOVES FOR A PHOEB!”

“He has multiple pairs?!”

“Keith,” deadpanned Allura, turning to the rage ball of a paladin. “You absolutely must tone down this edgelording business.”

Lance snorted his way off the couch, collapsing in a curl of laughter as he clutched his stomach and tears pricked at his eyes.

“Get him, sis!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	8. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sure, Lance could fly this thing, but what people needed to learn was that this meant _nothing_! Lance could probably fly a hot-wired toaster and blow up a fleet of Galra ships; heck, Keith was pretty sure Lance would find a way to fly a roll of bread if he needed to! Him being able to fly this just meant it wouldn’t explode on the platform.

Keith clicked through the flight guide in front of him for Pidge and Lance’s new star surfer design; he swore, if one more of these things decided to rocket out from under his feet and disintegrate his boots in the process, he was going to make the two geniuses stand in front of the “only potentially deadly” little machine of theirs! Sure, Lance could fly this thing, but what people needed to learn was that this meant _nothing_! Lance could probably fly a hot-wired toaster and blow up a fleet of Galra ships; heck, Keith was pretty sure Lance would find a way to fly a roll of bread if he needed to! Him being able to fly this just meant it wouldn’t explode on the platform.

Keith sighed, spinning the holographic diagram around and glaring down at the surfboard with cannons strapped to it on the Garrison’s garage floor. How had he gone from testing Pidge’s holographic games to testing her new rocket designs without changing the level of danger he was in?

“Hey, Keith!” Called Pidge, kicking down the door and swinging in a massive box of spare parts. “How’s it looking? Think you could fly that guy?”

“Sure,” deadpanned Keith. “I totally could if you actually put in controls and ways to change the speed other than leaning.”

“That defeats the purpose, though,” shot back Pidge. “Obviously this is something we would need to take a new class on flying to create, but that was what happened when people decided to surfboard too. Adam will figure out if this is actually applicable, I just need you to tell me if this thing would be viable.”

She knocked her knuckles against the side of the board for good measure, a lock of hair sliding free from behind her hair. Keith grinned, ruffling her hair and dodging her retaliations as she squawked like a chicken whose tail had been pulled.

“Someone’s really happy Lance has been grounded down here with us, huh?”

“Excuse you!” Huffed Pidge, shoving his arm away with a grin. “I am _capitalizing_ on the fact that Starboy over there is on Earth, it is distinctly different!”

“Uh huh,” replied Keith, smirking as he slid his feet into the board slots, one hand clutched in Pidge’s vice grip to steady himself. “For science.”

“Yep, all in science’s name,” said Pidge, cheeks nearly splitting with a grin as Keith brushed back the runaway strand of hair before it got caught in her glasses. “Now, let’s get this design finalized before I sic Hunk on it. What time do you need to be out of here, Boyfriend?”

“I will fly this thing through your window,” shot back Keith. “And before seven.”

Pidge snorted, punching his shoulder and escaping behind her computers before he could fight back.

“Roger that,” she chirped, inputting a string of numbers that Keith wouldn’t be able to dissect into a meaning if he had tried. “How’s Nadia doing? Lance said something about a sand pit and track; I said we have one behind the Garrison where astronauts train that he could probably use, do you know how my little accomplice took that?”

Keith snickered, shifting his weight back as Pidge gave him the thumbs-up, and he bounced his foot into the button to warm up the machine.

“Well, she was practically singing her way through breakfast, so I’m guessing you made the little princess’ day,” he replied. “Also, Sylvio wants you to check out his new robot; you got time after this?”

Pidge clicked away at the computer, colors reflecting across her glasses, and Keith spread his arms as he lowered his weight and toed his feet a little further apart. He rose into the air, teeth clenched and shoulders rolled back in preparation to guard his nose the moment this thing dropped him on his face. If he could just get the boosters to hold their position and not shudder him off the board, then maybe…

“Yeah, Bandor is spending the night with Romelle and Narti; I’ll come over after work. You mind if I stay for dinner? I think if Matt makes us pasta one more time to try and impress Nyma with his Italian sensibilities, I’m going to strangle him with his own dinner.”

Keith snickered, digging his heels into the board and sinking further down into a low crouch. The boosters weren’t deciding that they liked the other side of the garage better, so they were off to a better start yet than yesterda—

“Okay, I’m going to unlock the boosters; you want to try and move around?” Suggested Pidge, clicking away at her computer and engaging the airbags surrounding the room.

“Wait, Pidg—”

“And away!”

“ _PIDGE!_ ”

“Oooo, nice loop de loop! Good versatility in flight…the feet clamps are stable…nice, your boots aren’t smoking yet…”

“PIDGE, OBSERVE LATER! SAVE _NOW_!”

“But if I save you, I can’t observe you!”

“ _ **PIDGE!**_ ”

“Fiiiiiine, coming…”

Keith slung his bag over his shoulder, wincing around the bruise newly decorating his left eye, and tugged on his jacket. Pidge yawned, running a hand through her already disheveled hair and yanking her backpack off the chair, the clock blaring a harsh 11:00 at them.

“Thanks for today, Keith. Hunk should be able to finalize the design tomorrow; remind me to tell Lance I’m going to call him in for some test runs in a week or so.”

“Will do, you workaholic little goblin,” said Keith curtly. “Now, come on. Lance is going to expect me back any dobash now, and if I’m late after already texting him I’m missing dinner, he’s going to call Shiro and then we’ll have a manhunt on our hands!”

Pidge laughed, tucking her arms into her dad’s old leather jacket and holding the door open for Keith.

“That sounds like Lance! Geez, I miss having him throwing dramatics around my house,” she admitted, grinning as she punched Keith’s arm playfully. “Hey, I lost my best rubber ducky to you; how are you going to make it up to me, Kogane?”

“Lance’s special garlic knots?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal there. Did you walk or hoverbike your way over?”

“Walked.”

“Cool, I’ll give you a lift. Matt let me borrow his motorcycle and I have an extra helmet. You game?”

Keith chuckled, his mind wandering back to the two of them lashing out and yelling at each other at the beginning of Voltron when Pidge tried to leave, the anger etched into both of their faces and the flames flashing in their eyes that blew their words into magma. To now be casually inviting her home for dinner, for her to give him a ride on the motorcycle she’d been pleading with Matt for half a decaphoeb to let her drive, for them to share as many soft smiles as they did punches to the arm……it was something he would never have even considered at the beginning.

“Only if it’s big enough to fit on my head.”

“If not, I’ll cram it on until your brain comes out of your ears.”

“Great, this coming from my driver.”

“Yep, now step it up, Kogane; I want food.”

Keith laughed, slinging the helmet over his head and hopping on the seat behind Pidge. He braced himself on her shoulders, fingers clenching into her coat, and she revved the engine with a feral grin.

“Pidge.”

“Yeah?”

“If I fall off this, you won’t get this bike back.”

“Yeesh, got it. Now, shortcut or scenic route?”

“…………”

“Gotcha, shortcut. Let’s go!”

Pidge didn’t talk on the way there, leaving Keith to roll in his thoughts and stare at his watch for the entire drive. Lance hadn’t called, so he wasn’t freaking out yet, but…

After Keith and Lance had settled into the house, one of the first things Lance had confessed in that quiet, trembling way of his, was that when any of them were late, his brain ran circles around all the ways that they might be hurt, dying, or already dead while he sat there and did nothing to help them. Keith didn’t need to be told that this had started when he left to join the Blades; the way Lance’s thumbs pressed together told him everything. After that, Keith made a point of coming home early; his idea of being incredibly late was one minute after his estimated time of arrival. He was meticulous about it, and as happy as he was to have helped Pidge handle her new technological difficulties, his breath was starting to clog up his throat now. The idea of Lance hunched over in their comfy chair, fingers locked around his knees and teeth clenched as his eyes tracked every tick of the seconds hand on their clock…

It made Keith’s stomach turn to ice.

“I can see why you walked,” snorted Pidge, the seemingly careless lilt of her voice easing him out of his mindscape. “Your house really is just around the corner! I’ll take you on a longer ride on Saturday as thanks for the help today.”

“Sounds great, thanks,” managed Keith as Pidge pulled up in front of the house, one of her hands automatically latching around his to keep him from vaulting off the bike before she had finished parking. “Nadia and Sylvio are probably asleep already.”

“Play hard, sleep hard,” replied Pidge, flipping her keys and patting his back. “Now, let’s go grab a bite to eat while I pretend not to notice you and Lance stealing kisses around the kitchen.”

Keith mustered a twitch of his lips resembling a smile, thrust the helmet into her hands, and dashed for the door. Pidge smirked, tucking the helmet under her arm and waving Keith inside as she finished locking up her bike. He looked like he was going to pace a fire onto his lawn if he didn’t get inside within the next five ticks. Pidge rested one hand on the motorcycle, smile softening as Keith vanished inside. For all that those two were battle-hardened warriors who had saved the universe time and time again, they were also a lovestruck couple who understood that every second spent together was one they had earned, had snatched away from a lifetime of war. They were just a couple who wanted to hold each other.

Keith burst through the door, heart strangling the breath from his throat at the silence that greeted him, and hands trembling against the doorknob. He kicked off his shoes, stepping quickly into the living room, gaze snapping from the kitchen to the living room to—

“…Lance,” breathed out Keith, all the tension draining from his body as he took in the sight of his boyfriend sprawled on their comfy chair, a Garrison report still playing on the tablet cradled in a limp hand, and his chest rising in slow, even breaths.

His chin was tilted towards the window, one arm stretched over the arm of the chair as if reaching out to Keith through the screen, as if trying to bring him back home. The lamp glared harsh light down on his soft cheeks, his smooth nose, his sharp cheekbones. Keith let out a long breath, and Pidge poked her head through a door with a raised eyebrow. Keith raised a finger to his lips; Pidge gave a curt nod and slipped inside, locking the door after her. She gestured to the kitchen, miming eating and hot food, so Keith decided to pray that   
she was offering to heat up their dinners and not suggesting they burn down the house.

He nodded enthusiastically.

Pidge saluted, darting past him like the little hungry fox she was, and Keith chuckled under his breath. He’d have to make sure she didn’t pass out at the table again like she did last week.

He knelt, threading his fingers with Lance’s, and brought the limp hand up to his lips in a soft kiss, and in a long promise. And, maybe it was just his imagination, but Lance seemed to relax under his touch, going fully limp only when he spoke those precious words Lance had waited so long to hear that evening.

“I’m home, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	9. Night Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m taking you on a date, Loverboy Lance,” teased Keith, kissing Lance’s cheek again and settling him on the bike. “And as an apology for being late last night, I’m going to take you there in style.”

“Keith, where are you taking me?” Asked Lance, his words half swallowed in his laughter as Keith tugged the blindfolded paladin to the hoverbike waiting for him outside. “Why did you stick me in a suit?”

Keith laughed, twirling Lance effortlessly and pecking his cheek. Then he let go and swept Lance off his feet, biting his tongue to keep from choking on giggles as Lance squawked.

“I’m taking you on a date, Loverboy Lance,” teased Keith, kissing Lance’s cheek again and settling him on the bike. “And as an apology for being late last night, I’m going to take you there in style.”

Lance chuckled as the bike tipped a bit, Keith swinging himself into the driver’s seat. He reached over, wrapping his arms around Keith’s waist and nestling his head into the fresh jacket Keith had snuck out of Shiro’s closet. He could feel the bags tugging at the bottoms of his eyes, and tightened his hold on Keith as the hum of the hoverbike vibrated through his body. He sighed softly, and Keith brought one of his hands to his lips in a soft kiss.

“You don’t need to make up for anything,” promised Lance as the hoverbike rose into the air. “You came home.”

Keith chuckled, leaning back into his boyfriend’s touch, and revving the engine.

“Doesn’t mean I’m not going to take you out for something nice,” he replied softly. “I’ve had this place in mind for a while, but I didn’t think Nadia or Sylvio would like it much.”

“No wonder you were so determined to win our bet,” teased Lance, kissing Keith’s cheek as the bike shot forward, the wind dancing through their hair and sliding over their faces. “But did you really haaaaaaaave to blindfold me? I could have just kept my eyes closed, you know!”

“You’d peek,” deadpanned Keith, wheeling around the corner and cresting up a cliff, one hand resting over Lance’s so his fingers could play with his partner’s.

“Hey!” Squawked Lance. “Just because you’re right doesn’t mean you have to say it!”

Keith let out a bark of laughter, revving the engine and tilting his head as the headlights flickered over the gravelly desert. The moon was almost eclipsed by the stars that night, their light cascading down to Earth as if to build a ladder and call the two Paladins back up into their cosmic embrace, back up to take their place in the heavens.

But, right now, Keith was happy enough just to take their place in happiness. The stars could wait for their next expedition.

“You’re going to like this,” promised Keith, his fingers tightening over Lance’s and purple eyes drinking up the moonlight like wells of silver. “So shut up and trust me.”

Lance snorted out a laugh, kissing the back of Keith’s head and relaxing against his boyfriend. He closed his eyes and blew out a soft breath, the wind whisking it free of his mouth as each muscle untensed.

“Always, my mullet man.”

Lance couldn’t tell if he wanted Keith to plan all of their future dates now or if he wanted him to plan none of them ever again because _quiznak was he going to get spoiled_!

“You did _not_ ,” he breathed, slinging one leg off the hoverbike and wobbling to the ground; dios mios, how much would this cost?

Keith chuckled, hopping off the bike and locking it with a couple of clicks. He shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled over to his partner, knocking his shoulder against Lance’s and dropping a kiss on his smooth, perfect cheek.

“Being a champion of the universe and a former Blade member does have its perks,” he replied, offering an arm to Lance and nudging his head towards the door. “Now, shall we get going, my love?”

Hunk waved from the doorway, two menus already in his hand and a smile that would have outshone the sun if it dared show its face on that starry night. He had coordinated with Shay to open a restaurant on Earth that basically served as “an intergalactic ramen stop” according to Hunk, and an “establishment with a refined, extraordinary taste that was incomparable regardless of how galaxies one visited” according to pretty much every review Keith had ever seen of the place. Getting a table was…well…hard and, since Nadia and Sylvio were still adjusting to any sort of alien food, it had seemed out of the question for phoebs. But, with this opportunity, Keith could finally give his boyfriend a little pampering with some of his family.

“Hunkers!” Shrieked Lance, snatching Keith’s hand from his pocket and tearing across the walk with a carefree laugh that seemed to call up sparkles from the lanterns dotting the trees, the night almost glowing under his joy.

This was just how Keith had always known Lance to be. He was like King Midas, except whatever he touched turned to joy instead of gold. He threw his arms around people and released little bundles of happiness from his hands, pressing them into everyone’s lives, scattering them to the air in the hopes that someone would find it and be able to smile because of it. He touched people’s hearts, infusing them with a little more strength, a little more hope, a little more will to find the beauty in life. Lance gave all his joy, all his smiles, all his hugs and laughter and love, he gave all of himself freely.

So Keith would give himself freely back, would press a little orb of joy into Lance’s life. And, as his fingers tightened around Lance’s and they dashed through the door, Lance pulling him joy and light the way he always had, Keith hoped that it would be enough. That he would be able to give even just a tiny bit back to the one who gave his all to everyone.

“Hunkers!” Chirped Lance, high-fiving Hunk and claiming a menu as Hunk gave an exaggerated, sweeping bow.

“Welcome, my good sirs,” he teased. “Reservation for the McClains?”

Keith flushed hot red as Lance froze beside him, the two of them gaping at Hunk as he hummed cheerily, a tiny smirk at the edge of his lips. And, somehow, in the stuttered, half-muted shrieking flowing from Lance’s lips, Keith’s heart melted away the tension trapped in his mind.

Because, as Lance’s face glowed like a beautiful cherry blossom, Keith couldn’t help but feel like that little orb of joy he offered must be enough. It had to be enough, or Lance wouldn’t look like someone had just given him the entire world topped with an extra strawberry.

Keith brought Lance’s hand to his lips, bowing and gesturing to a table already laden with their food, a smile splitting his cheeks and making his eyes almost glow in the light of Lance’s joy.

“Come on,” he whispered, barely able to breathe at the sparkle in Lance’s eyes, the slight shimmer of overflowing joy barely kept from spilling over his cheeks, and his smile matching Keith’s; it was all Keith could wish for. “Dinner’s already set, my love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	10. Jacket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance propped his chin up on the table, eyes flickering over the report glowing on the tablet in front of him. He tossed an apple in his free hand, idly spinning it through the air as his eyes drank in the words on the screen, assembling them into an animatic dancing through his head. He tapped out a tune to compliment the action sequence, a crescendo dancing along the counter and transforming into trumpets in his ears.

Lance propped his chin up on the table, eyes flickering over the report glowing on the tablet in front of him. He tossed an apple in his free hand, idly spinning it through the air as his eyes drank in the words on the screen, assembling them into an animatic dancing through his head. He tapped out a tune to compliment the action sequence, a crescendo dancing along the counter and transforming into trumpets in his ears. Anything to keep him seated in this chair whose back leaned just a little too close to the ground for his comfort and whose fabric was just a little too scratchy, and seriously who designed these arm rests?

Lance blinked, his eyes focusing on the sentence in front of him and his heart dropping as the description of the tactic to put down some vanguard called the Khaiver Guards getting close to the Taujeerians seemed to laugh at him from the screen. Who on Altea were the Khaiver Guards? And what did this planet mean by vanguard? Because these battle suggestions were waaaaaaay outside of the parameters of a normal vanguard!

Lance groaned, tipping back on his chair and flicking through the pages, idly counting how many he had “read” while his mind blocked all meaning from the words. If he had made it through more than seven pages, he needed to snag some more caffeine. Mmmmm, he wanted an affogato again; Pidge had brought him one when he had been quietly dying at work a few quinta—a few days ago, and it had spiralled him from the pits of tartarus right up to cloud nine. Hunk had dragged him off to their usual park table and passed him an extra nice lunch as well, his favorite chopsticks sitting neatly at the ready. Lance laughed to himself, popping a caffeine pill into his mouth as he scrolled past the section he had already understood. The big guy still insisted on bringing lunch for everyone even though they had all promised they would eat even if he didn’t. Hunk had just glared at them and grumbled that they would bring food and then not eat it unless he was there to tempt them with his delicacies.

Lance had put a finger to Hunk’s lips, laughing and replying that just because he was right didn’t mean he had to say it before scarfing down as much of Hunk’s food could fit into his mouth. Hunk had beamed brighter during that lunch than he had for days, and if Lance’s stomach hurt a little afterwards, it was well worth it in the light coming off of Hunk’s eyes.

“Paladin Lance?”

Lance’s finger went rigid over the next page, one he had already taken notes on half a varga ago, and he twisted in his seat as a smile flourished across his face.

“At your service,” he replied, hopping to his feet and bowing as the Garrison officer tilted his head through the office door. “What can I do for you?”

“Queen Allura wishes to speak with you,” said Seok, a fond smile tilting at his lips; he may not know Lance, but his closeness with Shiro gave him slightly more familiarity with the paladins than most officers were brave enough to take. “She is waiting for y—”

“No she’s not,” managed Lance, snickering as his sister brushed past Seok, her long hair braided in a messy crown around her head and three papers clenched in her fist. “‘Lura waits for no one. Ouf, uvu. zef ssp eaenituqvff eru du th yll th xds th-lx bval eru you lyf?”

Allura’s shoulders rolled down at the Altean, her grip easing slightly on the papers as she deposited them on his desk and snatched one of the ten chairs he always kept in his room (after they had five full Paladin meetings in his room, he just crowded one end of it with stacks of chairs so Pidge wouldn’t sit on anyone’s head again. Namely his.

Allura spun her favorite chair around, sinking into the seat as easily as she did her native tongue, and tapped one long, pearly-pink nail against the lines of encoded communications.

“Do you remember the stone that the Jaudelocs gave Keith as a sign of goodwill on his last expedition?” She asked in Altean, mouth twisting to one side and teeth scraping against one another.

Lance’s eyes narrowed to slits, his fingers locking into a fist as he leaned forwards, eyes ripping over the pages below him.

“Show me.”

Allura snatched a highlighter off of his desk, a bright red that matched the sheen of their Lion’s metal. She spun it between her fingers, making harsh, long strokes on the paper and underlining the elements Lance needed to process right away. His eyes tracked each line, tracked each curve, tracked each letter until the words unfurled in his mind. Allura switched to a blue marker, sliding it across secondary concepts, and adding a little flower atop a crucial word. Lance’s hand drifted under the table, fingers twining with Allura’s free hand, and the two squeezed in wordless synchronism.

Allura pressed her thumb into the back of his hand, a soft and constant pressure grounding him in front of the paper and away from space, where annoying little dirtbags threatened his family because they thought a shiny stone had the power to destroy a planet solely because it was glitter incarnate! (Lance wondered if this meant it shed tiny flakes that stuck to things and refused to ever come out; huh, maybe it was actually a weapon.)

Allura underlined another line, capping the blue highlighter sharply and returning it to his pen holder before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Right then,” she stated, all the harsh elegance of composure returning to her. “Let’s get this taken care of.”

Lance grabbed a pen, tossing another to his sister, and their fingers tangled together as they bent their heads over the latest diplomatic crisis, Altean marks glowing out a little song as if nothing had changed since they had come back. Lance began scribbling out a response, punted that thought to the side, and translated his thoughts into Altean as he read them out for Allura to scribble down. She would parse through them, discuss them with him, and then formulate the best way to respond, just like they always had.

_Maybe_ , corrected Lance silently, _it’s just that everything doesn’t have to change now that we’re back._

He’d like to believe that, anyway.

“Okay, I shall send those as soon as I have enough copies,” promised Allura, the Spanish lilting off her lips as she cupped Lance’s face with her hand, rubbing a thumb over his cheek. 

“And I will tell you as soon as there are responses. Until then, rest easy, brother. Keith is safe here with us, just as he has always been, and just as he always will be—as you two always will be.”

She smiled, pressing a light kiss to his forehead. “Just because we do not all live under the same roof does not mean we are not one family. We will protect each other as all families do: together. And I doubt this will escalate any further; the note we were able to recall on the last treaty should pacify them. We just need to get these out in time—”

“Am I interrupting?” Asked Keith, fist raised to knock and eyes narrowing as Allura’s feet automatically shifted into a fighting stance. “Nadia and Sylvio have a delivery for a certain Mr. Black Paladin.”

Allura blinked, and the two little balls of energy burst through the door with shrieks of laughter as Keith grinned. Lance beamed, throwing his arms wide open just in time to catch the twins’ sprint, and Allura smiled softly before stepping over to Keith. She gestured silently to the papers, and Keith gave a short nod before the two wrapped each other in a tight hug.

“Everything okay?” Whispered Keith. “He seems tense.”

“Small diplomatic crisis,” murmured Allura. “Nothing we cannot handle. Still, I would keep him away from Iverson or Sanda; they’re both far more concerned about this than they have any need to be, and that can be infectious.”

Keith nodded, releasing her and grinning as Lance booped Nadia’s nose, tucking Sylvio close to him and rubbing patterns into the tiny boy’s stomach. He squeezed Allura’s shoulder and slid two strawberries into her hand.

“Okay, leave the rest of this to us,” he promised. “Here, Acxa’s waiting for you down the hall. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”

“Right back at you,” replied Allura, pressing a kiss to his cheek and ruffling his hair with a smirk. “Call me if either of you need anything.”

“Will do.”

Lance swept Nadia and Sylvio off the ground with a little roar, spinning them around the room as they shrieked and giggled, clutching their parcel close to their chests. Allura laughed, blowing kisses to the little royals and her brother before patting Keith’s shoulder and slipping out of the room. Keith smiled, sliding his hands into his pockets and striding over to Lance as his boyfriend flung the laughing kids around the room. Nadia was practically screaming with laughter, and the only thing wider than Sylvio’s eyes was his smile. Keith reached up, plucking the package from the maelstrom of limbs, and set it on the chair. Then he swept Lance off his feet into a bridal carry, spinning the little family around the room as they all laughed until tears streaked down their cheeks and their eyes drank in the light of the setting sun. He twirled them until Lance’s worries and fears were whisked away on the wind, until Nadia’s pouting lip at Lance’s stiffness when she had been watching him from the doorway was blown away, until Sylvio’s clenched fists were free hands flung wide in the air as he whooped and screeched with laughter. He spun until the tension in his heart bled away, spun far away from their little bubble of joy, and then he held his family close.

Lance cackled, pressing a palm to Keith’s cheek and pulling him in for a long, soft kiss. Keith smiled, the warmth of Lance’s jacket around him nothing compared to the love of his life in his arms, and he melted into Lance’s lips. Sylvio scrambled out of Lance’s arms, darting for the chair as Nadia continued cackling between the two lovers.

“Papi! Papi!” Shrieked Sylvio, ripping at the tape and plastic covering. “Come see what Tío Keith found in his old bag!”

Lance cuddled closer to Keith, the tension draining from his shoulders and a smile of pure sunshine spreading across his face. He cradled Nadia to his chest, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, and another to Keith’s nose.

“Did someone find your old pink jacket? The one from the space mall.”

“Yes.”

“Does someone want me to wear it home~?”

“………Maybe.”

Lance laughed, peppering Keith’s face with kisses, and reaching out to scoop Sylvio into his arms along with the pink jacket that had seen them through so much. He dropped a kiss on its collar and curled around it, grinning.

“Well then, you might want to put me down, Samurai.”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. No.”

“Keeeeeeith!”

Keith laughed, kissing his boyfriend’s eyelids and his cute, little scrunched nose before pressing kisses to the twins’ cheeks.

“It’s faster home this way,” he said, and Lance silently laughed to himself.

As if he wasn’t already home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> Ouf, uvu. zef ssp eaenituqvff eru du th yll th xds th-lx bval eru you lyf?=Hey, sis. Any new emergencies for us to add to our to-do list for the day?
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D


	11. April 11th: Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Soooooooo, apparently,” said Lance, sliding into his chair at the breakfast table and popping a slice of orange into Nadia’s mouth before ruffling her hair, “Sylvio’s got a fever. I think there’s a bug going around school, so no biting anyone, Nadia,” he teased. “I already called in to work; I’m going to stay home and take care of him today. Keith, could you take Nadia to school?”

“Soooooooo, apparently,” said Lance, sliding into his chair at the breakfast table and popping a slice of orange into Nadia’s mouth before ruffling her hair, “Sylvio’s got a fever. I think there’s a bug going around school, so no biting anyone, Nadia,” he teased. “I already called in to work; I’m going to stay home and take care of him today. Keith, could you take Nadia to school?”

Keith gave him a thumbs-up as he scrolled through his phone, tongue poking out from between his lips and eyebrows furrowing together. Lance winked at Nadia, sliding his fingers across their counter noticeably and dipping them into the tiny bowl of blueberries in front of him. He slid four into his palm, rolling one between his fingers methodically as he raised an eyebrow higher and higher, Nadia snickering because she knew what was coming. Keith may have lived with Lance for years now, but she had grown up in Lance’s arms.

And there was a reason he had such good aim.

Lance tossed the blueberry into the air and, with eyes sharpening just for a flicker of a second in that way that made Nadia want to arm herself with water balloons for the upcoming war, flicked the blueberry into Keith’s forehead with a _splat!_

Keith dropped his phone, jerking up and seizing his fork reflexively, though Nadia’s shrieks of laughter and Lance’s cackles eased his grip along with his heartbeat. He snagged a napkin, lips curving as he wiped at his forehead and tried to scowl at his boyfriend.

“What was that for?” He complained.

“No phones at the table, remember?” Teased Lance, flicking another blueberry into his boyfriend’s mouth and one into Nadia’s. “Here, if nowhere else, technology is forbidden! It’s the secret reason Tía Pidge hates coming here for dinner!”

Nadia laughed, slurping down the rest of her orange juice and putting it on her plate along with her silverware.

“I’m going to get my books,” she announced, hopping out of the chair and trundling her dishes over to the sink. “Papi, I need to bring my baking soda volcano to class with me, can you carry it out to the bike?”

“Sure thing, sunshine,” promised Lance, popping a handful of blueberries into his mouth and rising, pushing his chair out easily. “Keith, could you stick about two cups of rice in the rice maker? I want to make sure Sylvio has an easy lunch later.”

Keith saluted, rising and pocketing his phone after a final glance at the screen while Lance was distracted with scooping Nadia into his arms, leaving his untouched plate without even a backwards glance. Keith’s eyes narrowed, one finger continuing to poke at his phone even as it slipped further into his pocket.

“Let’s get your things out to your personal little school bus, mi princesita,” Lance said, kissing her forehead and spinning over to her room as she shrieked in his arms.

Keith smiled, blowing a kiss after the little image of domestic joy that had come to define his world, and bending down to snatch a container of rice from the pantry. His eyes narrowed at the abandoned plate, still loaded with toast and sausages, and spun a strainer from a lower cupboard. He bit his lip and flipped his phone back into his grasp.

Lance chuckled as he tied the volcano around Nadia’s waist, loose enough that she wouldn’t fall off if she dropped it, and kissed her forehead as Keith revved the engine.

“Have fun in school, mi princesita,” he whispered before turning to Keith and yanking his boyfriend down into a kiss. “If you have time, try to snag some soup for Sylvio’s dinner on the way home,” he murmured. “I love you, have a good day!”

“Right back at you,” replied Keith, nuzzling Lance’s forehead and pecking his cheek. “And will do; Italian wedding soup, right?”

Lance just laughed, eyes crinkling in that way only Keith recognized, and handed him his bento and Nadia’s ladybug lunch box. Keith swung them into his lap, kissed Lance’s forehead, and glared pointedly at him.

“Take care of yourself; if you pass out from a fever tomorrow, I’m going to sic Hunk and Pidge on you.”

Lance puffed out his cheeks, and Nadia gave a shriek of laughter behind them, turning into a whoop as Keith revved the engine and turned his eyes to the road. Lance waved as the two sped off, Nadia’s braids flapping in the wind behind her, and Keith’s rapidly growing ponytail waving back.

“Come home soon!” He called after them, his stomach clenching the way it always did whenever his loved ones left.

He just had to believe they would come back soon. Lance wasn’t used to relying on luck, on others, on the universe’s goodwill to keep his family safe; he was used to taking up his sword, his shield, his gun, his Lion’s controls, his armor, his anything and everything to protect the ones he loved. He wasn’t used to trusting in blind faith to bring his family back to him. It made his skin crawl, jammed his heart down his throat, and sucked his breath from his lungs like a vacuum. He clenched his fingers, eyes flicking up to the blue sky that no other planet had anything on, and counted the first ten clouds he found. He cataloged a shape for each, blew out his breath, and turned his communicator’s ringer up to max before stepping back into the house. He had a little prince to look after.

Lance pressed a cold cloth to Sylvio’s forehead, watching faint rivulets of water run down his son’s cheeks. He kissed the little red nose, eyeing the thermometer perched between Sylvio’s lips. Sylvio had managed to eat lunch without any problems other than a weighted blanket’s worth of exhaustion, so it wasn’t anything dangerous. It would probably pass by tomorrow morning, but he wouldn’t be able to stop tapping his finger against his arm until he could see that sunshine grin that belonged on Sylvio’s face. Good thing his son was asleep; the last thing he wanted Sylvio to see was how shaky this had left him.

He wanted to stay on solid ground, firmly footed on Earth with his kids.

_BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!_

Lance leapt back, spinning to confront the enemy as he slid into a fighting stance in front of Sylvio’s bed, reaching for his bayard as he raised an arm to block the incoming blow—

Keith giggled in the doorway, walking over to the bedside table and turning off Lance’s phone with a wicked grin.

“Hey, Tigger,” he teased, setting a bowl of soup on the bedside table and spreading his arms wide for Lance to fall into. “I’m home. How was your day, darling?”

Lance chuckled weakly, his water swelling behind his eyes, and he gathered Keith into his arms a little too tightly, pressing his face into Keith’s shoulder and allowing a single tremor to pass through his fingers.

“Good,” he breathed. “Glad to see you. Is it really already 3:00? I swear I just fed Sylvio at noon…”

Keith chuckled, pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead and running his fingers through his partner’s hair.

“Nah,” he replied, crushing Lance against him until he was able to hear that cute little squeak he gave whenever he was vaguely worried of being crushed by love. “I called in this morning, told Pidge and Shiro that I’d only be there for half the day, so they’d have to make do without me. I got the feeling you could use a nap. And a meal. You probably haven’t eaten.”

Lance spluttered out a laugh against Keith’s shoulder, nestling in and taking a deep, proper breath for the first time since he had measured Sylvio’s temperature that morning. 

Keith rolled his eyes, rubbing Lance’s back and holding him close. Some things never changed, some changed slowly, and some were gone in the blink of an eye. Sure, their Castle of Lions had become an orphanage, but Lance was still the type to work himself into the ground if someone he loved was even a little hurt, and Keith would always be there for him no matter what happened. And that last piece, that certainty they built their life on, was all they needed.

And Lance knew it too. Even Lance knew that, regardless of how many things around him were shifting, were safe now, were in new types of danger, were _different_ , he knew the love he shared with Keith would never change. Their love was forever growing, becoming deeper and softer with every look they shared, filling to impossible heights every tick they spent together, and every time Lance thought he couldn’t love Keith any more, that he had broken every record and capacity meter, Keith took his hand and he melted.

Lance buried himself into Keith’s hug, exhaling slowly, and then laughed quietly.

“I haven’t eaten anything, have I?”

“Yeah, you really haven’t. Come on, I got you black bean soup too. I’ll look after Sylvio, go eat.”

“Okay, don’t go pulling out your knife, Samurai!” Teased Lance, pulling back with a laugh, pressing a kiss to Keith’s forehead. “And…uh…you didn’t actually just ditch Shiro and Pidge by telling them to ‘make do’ without you, right?”

“…………”

“Dios mios, I’m going to have to mute my pho—”

_BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! BRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!_

“Keith. Tell your brother that if he wakes up my son, I’m going to snipe him in the back of the head with an army of tomatoes next time I see him.”

“…Well, RIP Shiro then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing!
> 
> My tumblr is at https://asagaosylph.tumblr.com/ :D
> 
> And I'm not dead! I've been working on Magnetic in Our Purple, but when I got 100 pages in, I realized I had made a mistake back in chapter two that would completely change everything. So I got to scrap all of it :| I'm back up to 70 pages though, so look forward to the final season hopefully being out by the end of July!!! :D <3 I'll try to update this as well while I go, so stay tuned and stay safe!


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